Illustrated periodicals have played a critical role in disseminating and performing Cold War cultural politics across national and ideological borders. In their entanglement with state or institutional actors, artistic or sports organizations, revolutionary groups and liberation movements, amongst others, periodicals have shaped notions of belonging for diverse readers, expressed in a host of visual and material formats.

The workshop will focus on the design and materiality of illustrated periodicals produced and read against the backdrop of the Cold War. We invite contributions that explore aesthetic, historical, theoretical or methodological approaches to the ‘politics of the page’. We are interested in periodicals’ visual and material strategies as these manifest in the layout, typography, uses of photography, choices of format, ways of production, reproduction or circulation, during the Cold War. 

The workshop aim is twofold: to contribute towards a cross- and trans-disciplinary international network of researchers on Cold War illustrated periodicals and, to produce a scholarly volume on the subject.